Another attempt to write a little piece of fanfiction. In a way I'm recycling the idea for a Space Age colonization RP, that sadly never really got of the ground, for this. Said RP can be found over here. Interrested? Maybe it'll get started on a second try (preferably with slightly more than two players)? This said, this story isn't quite the sanme thing (no spoilers). It should give you a general idea though.It is in a way related to my previous attempt at DT fanfiction as well.

<<1>>

Cornucopia dominated the holographic display, although the planet, the target of their decades long journey, was still far enough away, to be invisible to the unaided eye. Ni’ahm frowned as she scrutinized the image from every direction. No matter how she turned the depiction of the data gathered by the Aeri’cura’s sensors, the situation looked grim.

Countless small dots orbited the image of the distant planet. Each dot represented a piece of spaceborne debris of considerable size. Each piece of this debris field was moving fast enough, to cause serious damage to any ship trying to approach the planet. Part of this veritable orbital junkyard could be attributed to the three seed ships that had preceded the colony ship. Much more was of unknown origin though.

Where had it come from? The existence of all this junk in orbit was troublesome enough. Not knowing its origin was worse. “Aeri’cura?”

The face of the primitive artificial intelligence’s avatar replaced the image of the planet. “Aye captain, what can I do for you?”

“Keep decelerating as planned for the time being. Keep gathering data on the debris littering the orbit of our target as well. Try to calculate a course that gets us through the field and down to the surface with as little damage as possible while you are at it.” Ni’ahm got up from her command chair. “In the meantime call all officers, that are out of hibernation already, to conference room five. Listen in on the meeting, while I discuss these matters with them. Maybe one of them can give you an idea you haven’t considered yet.”

The holographic avatar nodded. “Aye captain, proceeding as ordered.”

“Good, inform me if anything else urgent comes up. You have the bridge.” With these words the tall and athletic officer left the command room. The AI was more than up to the task of running the ship, at least under normal circumstances. The artificial intelligence wasn’t creative though, not in the way a living being could be creative anyway, which put it at a disadvantage when dealing with unforeseen problems.

Hopefully they would come up with something that would get them planetside, alive and mostly in one piece, in that meeting. Lost in thought she wandered the long and still mostly empty corridors of the colony ship towards conference room five.

<<2>>

Cia’rah brushed her hand across the frosted glass of the hibernation capsule in front of her. Others just like it lined the wall of the compartment on several levels. Some were dark, either because their occupants had been woken up already, or because they had failed sometime during the long journey. Long trips like this one were dangerous after all, and not everyone made it to the target. She should know. After all she had probably made more interstellar trips than anyone else aboard the Aeri’cura.

During her tours of service with the reconnaissance corps of the empress’s marines she had been on no less than eight interstellar missions. Cold sleep was nothing strange for her. A smile curled her lips. Going strictly by standard date she probably was older than anyone else on the colony ship. Since she had spent most of the last three centuries sleeping in a freezer she didn’t look than any of the others though.

This trip was different though. It wasn’t a mission like her previous interstellar journeys. No, she wasn’t a marine anymore. The corps certainly tried to persuade her to stay on for at least another tour of duty. They had tried to bait her with a promotion and other benefits, but she had still declined. Considering how the situation involving the great clans had been deteriorated in the last years she thought it was time to settle down, preferably somewhere far away.

Signing up with this colony venture had been the logical consequence in a way. It had been the perfect chance for a quick getaway. That it was funded by the Tei’kaliath, a rather small and obscure minor clan, was a bonus. The Tei’kaliath had poured almost all of their funds into acquiring this colony ship and the imperial land grant for Cornucopia. Just like her they wanted to get away before the empress finally lost control of the ever worsening political situation, and a civil war broke out.

Once more she brushed her fingers over the frosted glass to get a better look at the capsule’s occupant. The little girl’s dark hair and delicate facial features mirrored her own. She was considerably paler than her though. Little Pei’gi hadn’t been planned, but she certainly was the good kind of surprise. Cia’rah had given birth to her daughter on this very ship, and as a result had spent less time in hibernation than most others for once.

She looked up still smiling, as a team of medics started reviving a passenger from his long sleep a few rows over. Yes, she was certain now, that leaving her old live behind to settle down had been the right thing to do. Damn her mother. Damn the Val of Belrobbaen. She had spent years fighting for the empress on goddess forsaken planets, only to see her family and others ruin everything with their greed.

It was her feral companion Smooth Paws that pulled her out of this developing spiral of despair. Unlike the Drow, the Ferals who were onboard couldn’t be put into cold sleep. They were considerably shorter lived than the Fae as well. Smooth Paws was actually part of the fourth generation of ferals born on this ship. For him the Aeri’cura was his whole world. He had never known anything else. She wondered how he would feel when taking the first step onto a planet.

He tugged on her arm nervously. “Sera? Your wrist thingy is beeping.”

“Oh?” She looked down at her communicator puzzled. A surprise meeting? This hadn’t been scheduled in advance.

A few steps away the communicator of Seh’ra Arne’metia, the chief medical officer, sounded an alarm as well. The short athletic redhead looked up puzzled as well, before giving crisp orders to the staff assisting her. A few steps brought the medical officer, who was wearing a lab coat over an exercise outfit that was hugging her curves dangerously close, to Cia’rah’s side. “It seems the captain has called a meeting for all officers. Want to head there together?”

Wan't to read more? Ideas? Suggestions?

Last edited by Kear'Naun on Tue Aug 11, 2015 12:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well, talking about Fanfiction on Skype made me remember this little thing and when I looked up the file, I found out that I had already written a little more for this story. Anyway, before I get distracted by dozens of other things again:

<<3>>

The conference room was bustling with activity. Representatives of all important families and factions as well as officers from all branches were present. They had left Smooth Paws outside, as he wasn’t invited to the meeting, strictly speaking. He probably wouldn’t have liked it in the overcrowded room anyway. Cia’rah was almost certain though, that her little companion was now sneaking through the air ducts and maintenance shafts to listen in anyway.

She decided to ignore the hustle and bustle for another moment. With a mischievous smile she turned towards the medical officer that had accompanied her on the way here. “Say Seh’ra, who was the cutie you got out of the freezer just now?”

The doctor browsed through personal profiles on her tablet computer until she found the right one, to show it to her friend. “Kih’non Mah’ni, former Sarghress affiliate, certified as a golem pilot. We’ll need him and some others to operate cargo loaders. And while I’ll admit, that he has potential, I wonder how you can call anyone, who has just come out of hibernation, cute.”

Cia’rah was about to counter with a quip, when the captain called the meeting to order. The woman’s face was grim, and the former marine could feel a cold, hard lump form in her stomach as the commanding officer addressed the room. She obviously hadn’t called this meeting to share good news, and the image being projected into the center of the room visualized all too well, what the problem was.

She had witnessed combat landing operations where orbit was still contested in the past. This was worse, much worse. The sheer amount of debris orbiting their target was well beyond any orbital mine field she had ever seen deployed. And if the silence that had spread throughout the room was any measure, the others at least could guess how bad this was as well.

It looked like Cornucopia was entirely surrounded by the drifting remains of several spaceships, seed ships and colony ships if her guess was right. Well, this would explain why the Tei’kaliath had gotten this land grant without the political weight usually wielded by larger clans. Others had already tried to colonize the plant, apparently with rather limited success. The former Belrobbaen brushed an errant strand of her midnight black hair back behind her ear and cleared her throat before standing up. “If you’ll allow me to speak captain, I might be able to offer a few potential solutions to our dilemma. Sadly none of them will be easy or really save though.”

The captain replied with a court nod. “You have the stage Cia’rah.” As the ship’s captain took her own seat Cia’rah picked up her own tablet computer, browsing its contents until she found the right files. Strictly speaking it could be considered treason that she had brought some of her mission protocols and was about to share the classified files with a civilian audience. Well, she doubted anyone currently present would protest.